As of August 24, South Africa had registered just under 610,000 positive Covid-19 cases. It’s hard to get one’s head round that number, but Biznews staff member Nadya Swart has a much more personal way of navigating the disease. Her father tested positive for the virus and her family are now living through the surreal experience of socially distancing themselves from someone in their own home. The process of testing, and some of the confusion around that, are now also a reality for Nadya. BizNews is hoping that Nadya’s father’s determination will get him through this safe and sound! – Renee Moodie
Covid-19: a personal account of living with a loved one who has the virus
By Nadya Swart
I was in Cape Town with my brother when we heard about the first person to test positive for Covid-19 in South Africa. It felt strangely surreal as I sat there picturing a contagion taking over our world. At the time, however, the idea didn’t seem to have the potential to become our reality.
I came back to Pretoria to stay with my parents for the lockdown. I remember walking into their room on the first morning of the national lockdown and all we could do was laugh in disbelief at the absurdity of how quickly the world had been turned upside down. We tried our best to keep our collective spirits up in those five weeks. Old-school 1,000 piece puzzles made a comeback and we waited eagerly for our turns to do the grocery shopping – just to grab our chance to get a glimpse of the outside world.
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In June, as the country was moved to a Level 3 lockdown, our lockdown routine didn’t shift much. My father continued to work from home, only going to the office when it was absolutely necessary.
In early August, my father went to his game farm with one of his oldest friends. It was an annual tradition that they decided to go ahead with. A few days after he returned, his friend let him know that he had tested positive for the virus. My dad felt completely fine – healthy with no sign of any symptoms.
As a precaution, he started to socially distance himself from my mother and I. He sat on the opposite side of the dinner table and moved into another bedroom – just in case. Exactly nine days after he came back from the game farm, he woke up and he just didn’t feel like himself. Our home ‘social distancing’ measures were tightened: he moved downstairs into the guest room and wore a mask at dinner time.
A week before lockdown, my mother had spotted a post on Facebook by a medical representative about Covid-19 home tests. At the time, the shortage and scarcity of Covid-19 tests ran rampant on the news. It was R7 500 for 40 tests so each test cost R187.50. She ordered a box of 40 and the tests were split among herself and friends who also wanted to err on the side of caution.
On the day my father started feeling ill, they both tested themselves using these ‘2019-nCov IgG/IgM Rapid Test’ home tests that had been imported. They both tested negative. We were obviously relieved. But my mother – luckily – has this sometimes frustrating ‘instinct’ about things and she suspected that something wasn’t right. On the third day of my father showing worsening symptoms, she put her foot down and made the decision for him to be tested. He’s not the type to do so on his own.
Since March, I had known that it was just a matter of time until the coronavirus hit home. I didn’t know when or who it would be that became infected with Covid-19 – but in the back of my mind I assumed it would be separated from me from at least a few degrees of association. When my father’s test results came back positive for Covid-19 early the morning after he was tested, the virus had not only hit home – but entered it.
My mother called the medical representative that had posted about the home tests to enquire about their validity. As it turns out, the tests were antibody tests to take after having had Covid-19 to see whether or not you have developed antibodies against the virus. The ad was misleading and actually poses a risk, considering that – if not for my mother’s insistence that my father get tested at a Covid-19 testing centre, we would have continued as if he just had the ordinary flu.
My father is 61 years old and healthier than your average man of that age. The horror stories we had heard about healthy people in their sixties succumbing to Covid-19, however, made the fear very real that no one, not even my father, was safe from this novel coronavirus. So, my mother and I started watching him with eagle eyes – monitoring his symptoms like nurses, which included ensuring that he took the recommended supplements and spent sufficient time in the sun to get the benefits of natural vitamin D.
As he was asymptomatic for nine days, we also became very vigilant about monitoring our own health. Another consequence of Covid-19 was a heightened sense of hypochondria: every cough, sore throat and feeling of fatigue triggered awareness and paranoia.
My mother and I eventually both started to feel unwell: she had a persistent headache and I had dull, persistent body pain. Most concerning, was that we both were fatigued and felt completely run down. On a Sunday morning, we went to an Ampath testing centre. The process was quite simple. The only ‘bump in the road’ was that – in order to get tested – you had to have a referral letter from a doctor. This is the case whether or not you pay cash or go through your medical aid.
Fortunately: my brother-in-law’s father is a general practitioner. He immediately arranged for his practice to email referral letters for both my mother and I. After this, the process went quickly. We filled in electronic forms on our phones to register and were tested within 10 minutes of submitting these forms.
The test entails taking a swab from your nasal passage – all the way up. Perhaps because so many people had complained about how terrible it was, we had a different experience. It was quick and easy. Ticklish, but not at all painful.
The test results – negative – were sent to our referring doctor that same night, which was a pleasant surprise and relief. A confusing result, though, as we feel unwell and now have no idea as to what to attribute these symptoms to.
My father’s experience with the virus has made me more inclined to believe that a person’s mindset has very much to do with the way and extent to which it affects your health. His biggest concern was that he might have infected my mom and I, which he very fortunately now no longer needs to worry about. As stress is a great amplifier of this virus, this is my mother and my biggest relief.
We thought the hard lockdown was surreal. Living with Covid-19 in your home is even more strange. Having to socially distance yourself from someone you love and just want to hug is the weirdest reality.
My father is fighting the good fight and he is winning.
